TPC Journal-V6, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 4 339 for frequent use of collaboration (Scholl, 2006) and little use of concrete advice-giving in counseling (Garrett, 2003). Counselors can give special considerations to Native American clients when they have been exposed to sexual violence. In particular, counselors can aid these individuals in the process of identifying and challenging self-blame and shame; survivors of sexual assault report feelings of shame and self-blame at a rate of 75% (Vidal & Petrak, 2007). Perspectives of survivors have been linked to negative self-concept (Miller, Handley, Markman, & Miller, 2010) and PTSD (Ullman, Townsend, Filipas, & Starzynski, 2007). It is important to note that the relationship between self- blame and PTSD has been theorized to be mediated by negative social reactions (Ullman et al., 2007). This suggests that processing blame and taking a position of unconditional positive regard toward the client can function to decrease PTSD symptoms. High levels of self-blame among survivors of physical and sexual violence can serve as a predictor for re-victimization. Miller, Markman, and Handley (2007) reported increased re-victimization rates among survivors of sexual assault who reported elevated levels of self-blame. These conclusions were echoed by Edwards, Kearns, Gidycz, and Calhoun (2012), who determined that women who reported high levels of self-blame were more likely to remain in an intimate relationship with perpetrators of domestic abuse. Although there is no research available regarding the role self-blame plays among Native Americans living on tribal lands, it is clear that counselors must assess for self-blame when working with this population. In order to accomplish this task, and to collect needed research data, counselors can administer the Sexual Assault Symptom Scale (SASS), which includes subscales for self-blame, disclosure shame, safety fears and depression (Ruch, Gartrell, Amedeo, & Coyne, 1991). Directions for Future Research In order to increase the effectiveness of counseling interventions with Native American clients, there are several areas that warrant investigation. First, researchers should gain a better understand- ing of the differences between Native American tribes. The rate of violence exposure between tribes varies greatly (Oetzel & Duran, 2004), with some tribal communities being less impacted. Thus, researchers should conduct a more thorough examination of the prevalence, predictive characteris- tics and residual associations related to exposure to violence in tribal communities to determine the practices of those with lower levels of violence. In better understanding these factors, researchers can focus their attention on specified preventative approaches utilized by these communities and guide future counseling practices. Furthermore, researchers should devote increased efforts to collecting data on male Native American survivors of violence. Certainly, researchers have investigated assault and homicide among this population, but prevalence and residual factors related to domestic and sexual violence is lacking in the literature. Many male survivors of physical and sexual assault are hesitant to report their experiences due to social factors including (a) fear of judgment by peers, (b) fear they will not be believed, (c) fear of being labeled homosexual, and (d) concerns about counselors maintaining confidentiality (Sable, Danis, Mauzy, & Gallagher, 2006). However, it is not known what additional factors may contribute to the hesitation of Native American men to report violence. Increased knowledge in this area could have significant implications for the prevention of violence on tribal lands among men, as well as positively impact the counseling process. The negative impact that self-blame has on survivors of trauma has been well established (Miller et al., 2010; Ullman et al., 2007). However, the impact of self-blame in the Native American community,